1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device which conveys cut sections which have been cut from a workpiece by a cutting machine such as a sawing machine or the like and, in particular, to a conveying device which can convey a cut section to the left or the right side of the conveyor route.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Examples of commonly known machines for cutting an elongated material such as, for example, a rod and the like, are a circular sawing machine and a band sawing machine, and the like. In this type of cutting machine, a main vise device installed on the cutting machine for securely holding a workpiece to be cut by a saw blade is provided close to the cutting position of the cutting machine. A feeding vise device for feeding a workpiece to the cutting position is usually provided on the rear side of the main vise device in a manner allowing free reciprocal movement in the front and rear directions.
In a cutting machine with the above configuration, the workpiece can be automatically fed to the cutting position of the cutting machine by the automatic motion of the feeding vise device in the front and rear directions.
To make the cutting machine fully automatic, it is further necessary to automatically convey sections cut from the workpiece by the cutting machine at the cutting position to the subsequent process. A device by which the cut sections can be automatically conveyed from the cutting position of the cutting machine has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,215 (hereinafter referred to as the first prior art). In the first prior art, a vise device which conveys the workpiece to the downstream side of the cutting machine (i.e. to the front of the cutting machine) is provided free to move in the longitudinal direction of the cutting machine. In the first prior art, the cut section which is cut at the cutting position of the cutting machine is clamped in vise jaws of the vise device. Then, after conveying the cut section forward, one of the vise jaws is pivoted in the upper direction and the other vise jaw pushes the cut section to one side of the conveyor route.
Another art wherein the workpiece is pushed in the direction lateral to the conveyor route is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent No. Sho-57-195024 (hereinafter referred to as the second prior art). In the second prior art, the workpiece conveyed on the conveyor is pushed to a side by a hydraulic cylinder which is provided on one side of the conveyor.
However, in all of the prior art, just after the workpiece is pushed to one side of the conveyor route, the pusher device for pushing the workpiece is positioned on the conveyor route. Thus it is impossible to convey the next workpiece to the conveyor route until the pusher device is returned to its home position in the lateral direction. A problem therefore exists in that improved operating efficiency is necessary.
In addition, the workpiece can only be pushed to one side. The problem therefore exists in that the other side of the conveyor route cannot be utilized.